London Views
by ErnietheDinosaur
Summary: "I'm looking for London." "You're in the wrong country for starters-" "London the person." "Ah, William, you're early." This is set after my other story Decoding Cleopatra, I've just found it easier writing this one. So it might contain spoilers for DC, it might not, not sure yet since I haven't written it. T for language really.
1. Prologue

"Rome, your tie is sitting in your cereal." Belfast said as she strutted into the kitchen, her ginger hair flowing in curls, her pleated skirt rolled over twice at the top.

"Ugh." Rome picked his tie out of the coco-pops and continued with his maths homework which was splashed with chocolate milk. His teachers wouldn't be pleased. Paris rolled his sky blue eyes and reached for the last piece of toast. At the same time Vienna did, threats were growled, glares were wagered, and elbows connected with crockery.

Madrid ended up wearing her orange juice; Cairo and Egypt were splattered with jam and marmalade; and Rio was almost drowned in her own cereal.

The toast sliced perfectly in half and Belfast had to duck a flying butter knife as it shot so fast across the room it got wedged an inch deep into the wood of the cupboard. "Now both of you get toast." Sydney smirked and pulled on his jacket ready for work; a D.I. for Dutch Interpol.

"Bye sis." he ruffled London's hair as she entered the kitchen, arms full of fresh uniform pieces.

"Bye Syd." she called. "Okay. Belle, roll your skirt down, you're going to school, not a strip club." Belle scowled but rolled it down anyway, picking up her bag and stalking out of the kitchen as if on a catwalk.

"Rome, fresh tie, we don't want you smelling like cheese all day." she chucked a rolled up, black and blue and silver tie, at him, which he caught with one hand and stuffed his homework into his bag with the other, swapping the ties, he kissed Rio on the head and ducked out after Belle and Sydney.

"Maddie, shirt," She handed her a white Oxford blouse and the little mediterranean girl skipped into the downstairs bathroom to change. "Cairo, Egypt, jumpers." the two egyptian twins stripped their sticky jumpers off and snatched the ones from their older sister. Before grabbing their bags and dashing out the door.

Maddie returned from the bathroom and took off in the same direction, mumbling about an extra credit essay. On the first day of term. Oh yes, she was _that_ girl.

"Paris, eat your toast, quickly. Don't forget your P.E. Kit." she pointed to the bag on the back of one of the mismatched kitchen chairs. "Vienna, try not to blow up the science department again. And hay-fever tablets." London slipped a small packet into the top pocket of her blazer.

"Rio? You ready?" London turned to the youngest of the Baker offspring. Then she rolled her eyes at the milk dribbling off her olive skin and dark eyelashes. Snatching a cloth off the counter, she wiped away the evidence, "Good as new, off you go." she handed her her rucksack and sent her after her siblings.

London sighed and began levitating bowls and plates, mugs and glasses into the sink, packing cereal boxes into the cupboard and made the cloth wipe the spills and splats up off the furniture.

Today was a good day. Her younger siblings had gone to school and her older brother Sydney had gone to work. Giving her peace to collage the walls with Belfast's old magazines, or brush paint onto unsuspecting canvases, maybe call Syd if she had a vision that required the law enforcement. Otherwise, she had a free day.

She'd sold fifteen paintings for respectable amounts in the last month, and a lady would call at one o'clock wanting to commission a piece for her living room. Her living room was purple.

Money wasn't the problem at the moment. The house was a gift from Rio's father, a billionaire in Brazil, who didn't want to actually raise his daughter, but he wanted to make sure she wasn't on the streets. Between them, she and Sydney were making enough money for food and to pay the bills.

"I wish you were here, Mum." she sighed heavily and filled the sink with hot soapy water, scrubbing the pots clean. Too bad it couldn't remove the oil stains from her hands and forearms; marks from hours in front of an easel blurring the lines between impressionist and replicas.

And suddenly she wasn't stood in the kitchen washing up breakfast pots.

_She could smell rain. And not the faint scent of salt in the air when a storm was coming, the deep petrichor redolence of rain slowly seeping into stone; of damp leaves in the forests of Northern Ireland. It was night, she was in a city full of neon lights and marijuana smoke. Looking into a coffee shop window that was closing for the night. Busboys and waiters were clearing tables and stacking chairs. But one customer remained._

_Dark wavy hair cropped short, broad shoulders, built like the rugby players the family crowded into the living room to watch during the six nations and the world cup, dark eyes and wide-high cheekbones. He was gorgeous. But his features were pulled into a frown, something that looked unnatural. _

_And then he looked up. Eyes catching something behind her. She turned to see what it was but..._ the vision disappeared, she was stood in the hot kitchen, hands wrinkling in the cold water.

Frowning, London filled the sink with fresh water and finished washing up. Something about the vision had unsettled her and she didn't understand why. This was always a problem for London, she didn't really care what happened as long as she understood the reasoning behind it.

Setting the crockery on the draining board, London reached for the notebook wedged between a jar of coffee and a stack of CDs. One of Rio's glittery coloured pencils was stuck in the spine and so, in green, London began sketching the vision out on one of the blank pages, something in the man's eyes she couldn't quite capture with her limited tools.

Snapping the note book closed, pencil marking the page, she rushed down the stairs to the basement utility room, which doubled as her studio, Belfast's music room and Rio's yoga dojo. She drew in sketch books, printed with pop art, washed with water colours, carved with charcoal and yet, something was missing.

Answering the phone at one o'clock - as predicted - she felt more and more paranoid with every copy of the vision she made. What was so important about him that made this happen? Never had a vision influenced her so much.

She was dotting a cartoon strip in pointillism of the coffee shop window in bold colours with fine nibbed pens when she heard the door swing open upstairs with it's usual deafening creak.

"You've been busy." It was Belfast. She came to stand behind London, peering over her shoulder. "Who's the hottie?"

"I don't know." London frowned a little at her sister.

"Yeah," Belle scoffed. "Because that's why the desks are covered in the same image of him and you used a canvas to paint him on. You don't do that with just anything, Lonnie."

Spinning in the desk chair, London lolled her head back. "I had a vision this morning. Just of this scene. I just couldn't understand it. I thought maybe if I could draw it, I could see what it meant. But I can't!" She threw her hands up dramatically.

"Well, let's think of the options." Belle said, moving to sit at the bench of her rickety grand piano. "Option number one, he's a threat, possibly here to kill us because we are connected to the savant net." London couldn't believe the calm professionalism in her sisters voice when she said this, but nodded anyway.

"Option number two, he's a passing savant, Option number two subsection A: possibly meaning nothing what so ever. Subsection B: He might be a future victim to a rogue savant we're working to take down." she nodded again, gesturing for her sister to continue. "Or." A smile crept onto her face and into her voice. "He's your soulfinder."

"I highly doubt that." London scoffed.

"Why don't you let anyone take care of you Lonnie?" Belle asked, throwing her legs over the bench to face the keys, her long pianist fingers running over the keys, flooding the room in blissful harmonies.

"What? I don't do that. Do I?"

"Yes." Belle nodded, repeating the same three chords over and over in a loop, like a record with a scratch on it. "You're not mum, you know."

"And I'm not trying to be." London got up and came to sit next to Belle on the piano bench.

"But you are. You could have done anything in the world. You could be painting in Puerto Rico, Sculpting in Spain..." She let out an exasperated sigh. "But you don't. You stay in Amsterdam, making sure the rest of us are okay. And we are. We can handle it, none of us know our fathers, Vienna, Maddie and Rio barely remember mum." Her fingers moved faster so that the chord changes were sloppy and the notes blurred together. Taking a deep breath she said,

"Rome and Paris are making garlic bread and pizza upstairs. I'm going to go check they haven't burnt anything." and with that she left the piano, the last notes still lingering on.


	2. London POV

London POV:

Cairo and Egypt were sat at the table in the kitchen, supposedly doing their homework, but Egypt's hair continued to get bigger and frizzier and more vertical with every minute that passed. Meaning Cairo was using his gift to provide entertainment, by electrocuting the only person in the world that couldn't feel it.

I snickered and went back to scrying with my black mug of grape juice; trying desperately to find out more about the man from my visions. So far, nothing. It was infuriating.

"If you're trying to aid your search with the grape juice and dark liquid, you won't get very far." Maddie said as she took a seat on the other side of the table, at the opposite end to Cairo and Egypt. Scowling at their antics.

"Do continue, Einstein." I arched my eyebrows.

"Well, witch craft doesn't really exist, so that ritual wont work."

I cast a long look at the twins.

"That doesn't count," she pushed her frameless glasses up her nose, "And besides, even if it did exist, that's gr-apple." she shrugged. I took a sip of the juice and realised she was right, she always was. She smirked and pulled the sketch of the man in the visions across the table to study.

"Who's this?"

"Lonnie's mystery man." Belle sighed dreamily, flopping onto the bench next to Maddie, a liquorice bootlace wrapped around her fist while she chomped on the end.

"You mean her soulfinder?" Maddie frowned at Belle. Maddie is a girl who likes things cross referenced in twelve languages, run through eight supercomputers and quoted by the minimum of four experts before she will truly consider it fact.

"We don't know that." I replied and Belle rolled her eyes.

"But you _did_ have a vision about him?" Maddie pressed.

"Just this scene, he was in Amsterdam, it was night, it was raining and he was sulking in a cafe. That's all I got." I pushed my short blonde hair off my face, it was wavy with all the static in the room. There were a few bubblegum pink and purple streaks in it from when I got bored last week.

"Interesting." she murmured.

"What is?"

"Well, you haven't had a vision that's bothered you so much since you saw Rio get hit by a car." she stated. I flinched.

"So..." Belle frowned and gave Maddie a sideways glance, "You're saying this guy, whoever he is, might get hit by a car?"

Maddie sighed tiredly, like a pre-school teacher explaining something for the tenth time to a toddler. "No." scowling at Belle, "Idiot." Belle stuck her tongue out, "It means whoever he is, is important to London."

"If his name turns out to be Ben. I will laugh." Belle smirked. I rolled my eyes at her.

Cairo's head fell to the table and he began to snore. Egypt shrugged at me. "You didn't really expect me to let him get away with this did you?" he gestured to the seventies afro he was sporting.

"Rome! Pizza!" Paris hollered from another room in the house and the two of them skidded into the kitchen on their gym socks, pulling on the oven gloves with flare, Rome opened the stove door to pull out a baking sheet with a huge, rectangular, golden pizza on it. Paris proceeded to remove a tray with two baguettes sizzling with garlic butter.

Sydney strolled in and levitated ten plates from the cupboard onto the side so that the boys could dish it up. "I'll get Rio and Vienna." He said and left the room again.

"Remember Rio's gone veggie..." Rome murmured, arranging the salad with surgeons precision. Paris got out the pizza slicer. It never ceased to amaze me how sensitive Rome could be when it came to Rio. But he always made sure she was happy, even though it really takes a lot to make Rio sad.

The girl in question danced into the room, barefoot, toes painted moss green, picked up a plate of meatless pizza and salad, and dropped into a seat at the table. "Yummy."

"Egypt, wake up Cairo would you? His head's in the way." Sydney commented as he levitated his plate above the table. Rome and Paris floated the plates across the room to rest in front of each person.

"Ooh, Italian." Vienna gushed and slid into the seat next at the end of the table, making sure Paris was at least four people away on either side. Cairo slowly came to his senses, practically inhaling his food once he'd seen (or smelled) what was served.

* * *

Vienna and Maddie were on clean up duty since Rome and Paris cooked. Subtle splashes and clumsy chinks could be heard across the room. The boys were watching Batman in the living room; Curtains drawn and volume up high. Belle was braiding Rio's hair, loving the Puerto Rican genes which made her hair thick and wild.

Sydney was searching my mind and studying the sketches; trying to identify the mystery man. He was silent for twenty minutes as he searched, then he hummed a little tune as he processed the information through the huge human database that was, his mind.

"Ooh!" He gushed dramatically.

"What?" I jumped.

"American." he rolled his 'R's theatrically.

I gave a deadpan look, "That's it? That's all you got?"

"I'm looking at his passport, but it's just a little bit out of focus." he tutted and closed his eyes again.

"Born... second of October..."

I gasped, my birthday was October eighth. So Belle could have been right. Sydney just loved to be dramatic and drag things out.

"What year?"

"Every year." Sydney drawled.

"Syd!"

"1989." he rolled his eyes behind the lavender lids.

"Ben?" Sydney raised his eyebrows questioningly. Belle snorted. "No. Benedict." Belle's shoulder's slumped. "William. William Benedict."

At the mention of his name I was ripped from reality with a vision. _It was lighter this time. A park. Beatrixpark. The pool with the stepping stones, surrounded by trees on the east side. Vibrant greens and blue hues, a curved stripe of beige, black sharp accenting lines, both horizontal and vertical, dots of beige in the blue, He's stepping from one to another, continually making that circuit, almost as if he were waiting for someone to break it._

"Lonnie?" Sydney's voice broke through my thoughts, the vision clearing like wafting a hand through the herbal smoke in the cafes.

I looked down to see that someone had put a pencil in my hand and placed a sheet of paper before me. I'd sketched out the scene, a snapshot. A black and white snapshot.

"Syd?" I asked, feeling a little sick, sick like I might have missed him.

"Yeah?"

"What colour were the trees in Beatrixpark this morning?"

"Some were on the verge of turning yellow?" He answered, "Does it matter?"

"Yes. Yes it matters. Because this might not be the future, it might just be something about him. The leaves in my vision were green. Bright green."

He held my scared gaze for a few seconds before he slammed his chair back and stood up, snatching his and my jacket of the back of the door, he turned to Belle. "Belle, your in charge. Don't make me regret saying that." he told her and tossed my jacket to me.

Pulling it on, I followed him out into the dark night. "Syd! Where are we going? The park thing happened in the day time."

"Are you sure? The flood lights are pretty impressive." He replied, dragging me across the road.

"I... I don't know." I yelled over the noise of the traffic.

"Exactly. If he's not there tonight, I'll look up his contact details tomorrow. We'll find him, Lonnie, I promise you that." He took my hand and pulled me along, his long legs eating up the ground faster than mine. "Think about it, the flood lights might explain the colour of the leaves." We rounded a corner. "They could really be turning yellow, but in artificial light look green."

"Yeah, yeah they could."

"It could be really close future."

"Like really, really close."

Running faster and faster, I had to yank Sydney back before he ran in front of a bus I almost saw too late. I was scanning, searching, reaching desperately to catch a glimpse of William Benedict. But I couldn't nothing would come. He was just like a ghost. Two visions in one day and then nothing. Nothing at all. Why couldn't I see him?

We skidded to a halt when we reached the pool. Syd had been right about the flood lights. It looked exactly like my vision!

Except it was deserted.

"He's not here." I panted. "Why isn't he here?" I spun to face Sydney. "Why isn't he here Syd?"

He shoved his hands through his dusty blond curls. "I don't know London. I don't know." He sighed.

"He cant just _not_ be here! That's not how the vision showed it! He has to be!" I glared at the sky. "He should be here Syd." I argued defiantly. "Tell me why he's not."

"London..." Sydney sighed.

"Tell me why he's not here!" I screamed. "Tell me Sydney!"

I remember mum saying that people only shout when they don't have the vocabulary to whisper. But I didn't believe it then. No. The screaming helped.

"London." he sighed again, "He's not here." and he pulled me into his long gangly arms and kissed the top of my head. I didn't know I was going to cry until I felt the dampness of Syd's shirt against my cheek. In all the rush he hadn't buttoned the coat up.

"Ssh." he soothed and squeezed my shoulders from where his long arms had reached all the way around me. I felt small. I felt insignificant. "London Baker. You are not insignificant." he tutted. Great, I was leaking thoughts again. "Don't you remember what Mum used to say? Your body stops growing when it reaches perfection. It just took me a bit longer."

A watery laugh bubbled from my lips. I looked up to smile at my brother.

Sydney and I had the same chocolate brown eyes, we both had fair hair with eyebrows that matched the leather loafers he wore for work, we had the same nose. We had the same intolerance to raspberries. All traits and characteristics we'd inherited from our mother. But Sydney had a stronger jaw, steeper cheekbones, taller frame, longer fingers. I was shorter with a sharper structure. Hands more solid; sculptor's hands, Mum used to call them.

Paris and Vienna had the silvery blonde hair and stunning, pale complexions. Vienna's eyes were indigo rather than the forget-me-not Paris had. But they were the only ones that could really pass as our siblings looks wise.

Rome, Cairo, Egypt, Madrid and Rio looked like siblings. Inheriting the hispanic/mediterranean olive skin and dark curls, every one of their eyes a different shade of roast coffee. The twins had stronger noses and features slightly too big for their faces, in a good way. The striking Pharaoh memorability, not that the twins needed any more reason to be remembered by...

Rio's hair was wilder and had the texture anyone with caribbean heritage had, but like Rome and Madrid, she had the soft finer features that came from Spain and Italy.

Belle was the odd one out with fiery red hair and milky skin coated in strawberry freckles. Eyes that were emerald like the country she came from, with a ring of amber like a cat's around her pupils. Tall for a girl and stronger than she led you to believe with skirts and frills. Just the way she liked it.

"C'mon." he said and tucked me under his shoulder, leading me through the park and out onto the streets.

The harsh neon lights of all the cafes and bookstores and record shops reminding me of how abstract Amsterdam was. New and old blending more and more with every generation and every new skyscraper and every memory Anne Frank left behind with the holocaust.

I sighed, wrapping my arm around Syd's waist, "Let's see if Paris and/or Vienna need measuring for a coffin..."


	3. Will POV

Crystal was quiet as she followed my soulfinder link to wherever she was. Her expression kept shifting from certain to confused, sometimes smirking and sometimes laughing.

"What?"

"In a minute, don't rush me." She muttered and continued her soul-seeking. "I could have sworn..."

"What? What could you have sworn?" I jumped in my chair, shaking her shoulders.

She raised her eyebrows, I let go and sat back. "Better. And, I could have sworn she was in Amsterdam..."

"But?"

"London keeps cropping up and I don't know what to expect." Crystal frowned.

"Well maybe it was like Cleo? She was in South Africa but you found her in Denver. Maybe she's currently in London but intends to go back to Amsterdam." Xav suggested from his seat next to Crystal in the breakfast nook.

"No, I don't think that's it..." She murmured and closed her eyes again. A dry chuckle rose to her lips. "Now that _is_ clever."

"Crystal. You have to understand that this thing only goes one way." I reminded her impatiently.

"Her _name_ is London, but she's in Amsterdam."

"Her name is London." I repeated.

"Anything else you want to know that my spidey sense can find for you?"

"Last name?"

"Baker."

"Do you know when her birthday is?"

"8th October."

"What does she look like? Just so I have a chance at finding her."

"Let's see... Brown eyes."

"Uh-huh."

"Short blonde hair... no wait... it's got pink highlights."

"Pink highlights?"

"Or purple, not sure... she's about five-seven... tattoo... A swallow on her left wrist. An ear spike and a row of gold freckles beneath her eyes." Crystal opened hers.

"Interesting." I mused before asking the dreaded question. "Is she..." I started but didn't think I could finish.

"Will?"

"Is she married?" I blurted.

Crystal closed her eyes again. A peculiar face being pulled. "No."

I exhaled a breath I didn't realise I was holding.

"But..."

"But? But what?"

"I don't know. Its strange. She's not a mum... but she is. I cant tell."

"She has kids."

"I don't know that for certain... her mental space seems to be crammed with thoughts about family..."

I slumped back in my seat. "Whats the point? What's the point in going after her, Crystal? I'd just ruin a perfectly happy life for her, if I showed up." I stood up, needing to move, needing to think.

"I told you she wasn't married. What if she's a single parent? I'm sure she'd be overjoyed if you showed up."

"But what if she isn't? I'd just mess that up for her. I mean, I'd never even considered a family at this age but she might of, and she probably got sick of waiting around for me-"

"Will!" Crystal snapped. "That girl is longing for you to come along and find her. You need to man up and go get her because you'd be wasting time for both of you if you don't."

"Attagirl." Xav cheered and grinned at Crystal.

"Not now Xavier." she growled.

"Yes ma'am." he nodded and sat back.

"That girl has missed out on a whole lot over the years. Don't you dare be one of them."

"But-"

"No buts!" She held up her hands in protest. "Pack a bag. Buy a ticket. Get on the plane. Piece of cake!"

"I'm going!" I replied and headed upstairs to pack my clothes. "Worse than my mother..." I grumbled on my way up.

...

"Don't stay away too long, will you querido?" Mom pleaded as she made sure I had everything with me at the airport.

"I'll stay as long as it takes, mom." giving her a hug.

"Okay... but I expect another daughter when you return!" she shook her finger at me.

"Yes, mom." I grinned and waved goodbye to everyone, lifting my bag onto my shoulder, I headed to the flight desk...

The flight was ten hours to Heathrow, then another hour and a half to Amsterdam. It was about nine p.m. when I landed. Dropping my bag off at the hotel, I decided to look around the area, get a feel for the city night life.

I remember someone saying Amsterdam was a city of sin, probably one of the teachers that were present for Trace and Victor's education...but to experience the culture for myself, I realised, Amsterdam is a city of freedom. Freedom is of course a void in which most people find sin. A vicious reality, but reality non the less.

I ended up in a park, not remembering where it was but remembering how to get back. It had a glassy fat oval pool in the middle of the gathering of pathways. Surrounded by a low wall and beyond that were trees of every color green in the spectrum.

Thinking of how to go about tracking down London Baker; I began the circuit of stepping stones. I could look it up. I could search the streets. I could ask people. I'm sure a girls with pink hair and an ear spike are uncommon.

I should have asked Crystal to come with me. It would make everything so much easier... _But do you actually want it to be easy?_ A voice in the back of my head asked.

I wanted to find her, and I wanted to find her soon, but I didn't want to _just_ find her, I wanted to learn what it was about Amsterdam that made her stay. I want to follow her path to work, to her favourite coffee shop, learn what makes her who she is. Get the background before the subject.

Speaking of coffee shops, I need something to drink right about now.

Sitting in the window, I frowned into the black steaming liquid. How would I do this?

Well, the coffee wasn't giving me any answers. I sighed, turning to look out onto the street. Hoping she might materialise.

A couple were walking along the sidewalk, she was tucked under his arm, her arm around his waist. He leant down and kissed her temple, straightening up and smiling softly to himself as they walked. Blonde curls flicking out of his eyes with a jerk of his neck. She reached up and tucked a strand of choppy blonde hair behind her ear, eyes on the ground her yellow chuck taylor's slapped with every step.

Her earlobe was stretched around a powder blue ring the size of the buttons on my shirt. Circumference about the width of my pinky fingernail. The sleeve of her jacket had slipped down to reveal a mark on her wrist, partially hidden by a brown leather wristwatch that matched her eyebrows.

I only realised when they'd disappeared that it could have been her. She had been less than thirty feet from me and I missed it. I couldn't believe I'd missed it. Pouring the too hot coffee down my throat, burning away my taste buds. Slamming out of the cafe and running down the street, hoping to catch up with them...


	4. Sibling Counseling

Belle had done a good job of babysitting.

"Hey! I'm not a baby!" Paris protested.

Vienna punched his arm with substantial force. "OW!" He wailed, glaring daggers at her. She rolled her dark blue eyes at him and sauntered off up the stairs, "Don't be such a _baby_, Paris." she drawled and continued up to the second floor of the narrow but tall house.

Both Paris and Vienna used physical violence, this of course wasn't good. I'd asked them many times not to fight in the house, so they wrestled in the garden as an alternative. There really was no hope...

Maddie must have already gone to bed, being the recluse that she is. Rome clapped his brother on the shoulder and they both headed up to the big room they shared with the twins, across from Syd's on the first floor; Paris mumbling like no tomorrow, in french, as he went. The living room was empty and dark, like the kitchen and so was the basement, meaning that everyone else was upstairs somewhere.

Vienna and Rio's light was on as I passed their room, Rio was pulling on her pyjamas and Vienna was brushing her hair, "Night girls," I called and continued down the hall. There was a cool blue light leaking from the gap beneath Maddie's door. Knocking, I poked my head around the door.

"It's late, Mads."

In the glow emitted from her desk lamp, I could see she was sat on her bed, laptop open, fingers tapping away at the keyboard; encyclopedias open around her. She sighed, a few more taps and she closed the lid of her laptop. Looking at me she nodded. "I need all the sleep I can get if I'm going to have a science test tomorrow."

"Okay, goodnight." I was about to leave when I turned back, "And could you not rub it in everyone's face that you're capable of PhD level science? We all know you can, but its also quite rude."

"Oh, okay." she nodded and switched off her lamp.

"Night, Mads." I said softly and shut the door.

Belle was leaning on the bathroom doorframe as I reached the end of the third floor hall; she had a toothbrush poking out her mouth that looked like that of a rabid dog. She removed it and spat in the sink, "Well?"

"He wasn't there." I said softly and pushed open the door to my room. There was the sound of rushing water, Belle was probably rinsing her mouth quickly, the tap being turned too fast.

Pulling my jumper over my head, I felt my hair stand on end. I felt the goose flesh on my arms as the draught from the window hit the bare skin. "You okay, London?" Her voice was sensitive, like it had been when she was playing the piano, except that this time her _sympathy_ was directed at me rather than her frustration.

"Yeah. I know how unreliable my visions can be. It could have been a completely different path that he chose." I sank onto my mattress, pulling my knees to my chest.

"You don't really believe that." she said, crossing the room to perch next to me.

I sighed. "Sorry, I forgot." I sniffled and rested my cheek against the denim of my jean clad knees.

She flicked her eyebrows up smugly at her talent. Belle could tell when you were lying, she also knew if there was a secret you were keeping. Be it big or small she knew; not what the secret itself was, but she knew it was there.

"So what is it? Why do you not think he was there?" She urged, bumping her shoulder with mine.

I sighed, "Now that I've had time to think about it, I think I must have just messed up the timings, maybe we were too late, maybe we were too early. It could happen tomorrow. Or next week. I don't know." I shrugged, turning my face away from her to rest my chin on my kneecaps.

"Anyway, Syd can look him up tomorrow and we can track him down. It's far too close to be a coincidence. I'm sure he's yours." She nudged my shoulder again.

"When did you get so wise, Belle?" I asked, meeting her gaze in the mirror on the dresser.

She dropped her eyes to her lap. "I guess I learnt that everyone has to grow up. We just got that kick a little earlier than most." she whispered and let her hair create a veil between her and the rest of the world. Belle was the toughest person I knew. Ever.

Sure Paris and Vienna practically rip out each others throats without blinking, daily, and okay, we've all learnt to cope with six volts flying through your system from Cairo. But I knew very well that the tears that mean the most, are the ones you never let anybody else see.

Putting my arm around her shoulder, I waited for her to blink them away. Belle would never sob, she'd never let one drop fall. "Why..." She began but stopped to clear her throat, "Why did she have to die?"

Belle didn't want an answer. She just wanted someone to ask the question to.

Mum had died of cancer four years ago.

Maddie didn't come out of her room for two days straight, then it was another month before she spoke a word to anyone.

Belle threw herself into music, she slept at the piano every night for a week.

Paris went on lock down, blocking out every thought anybody else had, not that anyone was really thinking that much.

Vienna struggled to conjure a flame, she had the best record for all of her school history, but even the teachers preferred it when she was setting fire to text books and blowing up magnesium.

The twins were quiet. That spoke a thousand volumes.

Syd worked overtime just so he didn't have to come home, so that for a period of time he could pretend everything was okay.

Rio cried. Her name finally made sense. Rio didn't _ever_ cry. Not one tear. Even as an infant, she never shed a tear. But that week, she could have fuelled the Amazon for days.

I quit the job I had at a coffee shop in the city. I focused on my drawing, I completed some of my best pieces in that space of time. Someone from a gallery had seen one of the pieces when I was charcoaling something in the park; said I'd really captured the sadness and anger of the world and I'm pretty sure that work is still there. I happily handed it over, they gave me a lot of cash for them, but I really just couldn't stand to look at them. Once I'd finished grieving, I probably would have burned the lot.

Rome came the worst off. He felt that he'd failed his gift. He'd given her many more years than she should have had, but eventually... even he couldn't help her. He burned his hands on the oven at one point, but he didn't try to fix them. I had numbly held them under the tap, but Rome kept the scabs covering his palms and fingers, waiting for the fresh skin to grow. He could have healed them in less than an hour if he'd wanted.

Belle took a shaky breath and shook her hair back. Her lashes were damp. She'd never liked her eyelashes; they were orange like her hair when she was younger; they're stained black with years of daily mascara application.

Smiling a watery smile, she stood up and walked quickly from the room, muttering, "Night." on her way, and pulling the door closed.

* * *

After a night of tossing and turning, I trudged down the stairs at eleven to find Paris playing Grand Theft Auto in the living room.

"Paris!" I exclaimed, throwing my arms wide in exasperation.

He gave a noncommittal grunt.

"Why aren't you at school?" The way I'd said that sentence, made it sound like each word deserved a capital letter.

"Prof. Jones accused me of cheating in a test and so sent me home."

"Did he really send you home?"

"Well," he paused his game. "He sent me to the front desk, where I was supposed to report to Dr Smithe and receive an hour of counseling. But I honestly didn't want to talk to him, plus Vienna suspects him to be a pervert-"

"Since when do you listen to Vienna?"

"On this account, I believe she's telling the truth."

"And what's with all the big words?"

"Just expanding my vocabulary so I might have an inkling to what Madrid is waxing lyrical about during meal times."

I shrugged in agreement, curling up on the sofa. "So were you cheating?"

He scoffed, "London that's pathetic-"

"Did you?"

"The bloke was broadcasting on all frequencies, I couldn't _not_ cheat the answers from his thoughts." he sighed dramatically and flopped onto the other end of the sofa.

"So you're saying this was his fault?"

He screwed his face up in consideration. "Yes and no."

I arched my eyebrows.

He sighed again. "If he had better control of his thoughts then it wouldn't be a problem; however if I hadn't been born into a family of such manipulative souls, then I wouldn't be abusing my powers in such a way."

I shook my head as I chuckled softly. "For that I apologise."

"So," he linked his fingers together. "What's going on with Benedict?"

I didn't even need to ask how Paris knew about that, he seemed to evade my shields as well as my sight. "Ugh." I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands and blinked at him. "I don't know. Whatever it was, we missed him last night."

"And you haven't had anymore visions?"

"Well, I had this weird one about you, the twins and Vienna with sharp knives and a lot of fruit. Do I even want to know what that's about?"

"Probably not, seeing as that plan hasn't fully formed yet." he ruffled his blond hair. "But it's along the lines of Live FRUIT NINJA." he ruffled his blond hair again.

I checked my watch, "Okay, that probably fills your counseling session, go on, get back to school."

He looked at me, mouth wide open, eyes pleading. "Lonnie!"

"Paris, School, now."

"But-"

"Now."

"Ugh. Fine!" he snatched his bag from the floor and stormed out of the living room, I heard him stuff his feet into his loafers, I heard the front door creak openobnoxiously, I heard Paris say, "Hello."


	5. Looking for London

Calling in some favours from some friends of Victors, I walked through the doors of the Dutch Interpol building without a second glance. Stepping into the elevator, I pressed the button for the third floor. The doors dinged closed, but not before a hand landed between them and a man about Victor's age maybe Uriel's; with dusty blond curls smiled thankfully, entering the elevator and pushing the button to close the doors.

The man seemed to do a double take. "Benedict?"

Turning, I raised my eyebrows, "Sorry do I know you?"

"Sydney Baker." He stuck out his hand and I shook it without thinking. "My sister's your soulfinder, I believe."

"London's your sister?" I gaped.

"You know her name?" he asked, taken aback a little.

"My brother's soulfinder is a soulseeker, I asked her to help me find her."

"I see." he nodded, slipping his hands into the pockets of his grey pants. He looked rather impressive and professional with the black shirt and tie, but the overall effect was destroyed with the curly hair and the Sesame Street cell phone cover that was sticking out of his top pocket.

"I'll call the house, she'll probably be in." He plucked the cell from his pocket and dialed the number, lifting it to his ear. It was Cookie Monster.

_"Ja?"_

"What on earth are _you_ doing home?" Sydney growled down the phone, guessing it wasn't London who answered.

_"I got kicked out of class."_

"Smithe?"

_"Yup."_

"Is Lonnie there?"

_"Still asleep. If she were awake; do you think I'd still be here playing GTA?" _

"Fair point. Get back to school." Sydney hung up just as the doors opened. "Come with me William." he said dramatically and strode through the rows of office cubicles to an oak door with a silver plaque reading D.C.I. - _S. Baker_. Identification.

Swinging it open he crossed the room to a desk with a large monitor and a keyboard. Manilla folders in both the 'In' and 'Out' trays with more scattered on top of filing cabinets; the trash full of empty printer ink cartridges.

There was a photograph, on the desk, of a woman with waist-length wavy blonde hair, a willowy frame and fingernails painted brown. Two blonde children clung to her jeans whilst she held a ginger haired infant in her arms. Gap toothed smiles and dimples all around. The woman could probably have passed as Sky's biological mother.

Sydney caught me looking as he clicked at something on the monitor. "That's London, Belle and I with our mum." He paused. "Taken in Italy. I wouldn't be surprised if she was already pregnant with Rome, there."

"Rome?"

He lifted his hand palm up and curled his fingers into his fist. I moved around the desk to see, with all the programs moved aside, the desktop background was a photograph of ten people. Teenagers. Autumn leaves blowing, they were all wrapped up in winter coats. Sydney pointed to a boy around the age of twelve who hadn't quite grown into his features or his limbs. He had dark hair and olive skin, hispanic features that were finer than mine. A grin that could light up coal mines ripped his face in two as he stood with his arm around a tiny girl of six or seven with wild dark hair. Caribbean rather than Spanish this time.

"Sixteen now. He's a healer."

"My brother Xav's a healer." I nodded.

"Wait. You're _that_ Benedict family?" Sydney asked, his eyebrows somewhere in his hairline. "You held the conference in Denver last year?"

"You were there?"

"No." he groaned. "We all spent the Christmas holidays in Brazil, with Rio's dad."

He pulled a pen from a mug with a dry coffee ring in the bottom; scribbling something onto a page of a note book, he tore it out and handed it to me. "Maybe we'll spend Christmas with the Benedicts this year." he smiled easily,

"Thanks." I grinned and headed back out the door, he'd given me an address.

"Oh and Will?"

"Yeah?" I spun on my heel, almost smacking my face into the door frame.

"When it comes to meeting the family, I'm not the sibling you have to worry about." and with that, he sank into his leather desk chair and picked up a file from his 'In' tray.

They lived in a four storey house painted navy blue with white washed windowsills. It was crammed between two other houses almost identical except for the color. The one to the left was beige and to the right, the house was painted salmon pink.

Running up the worn down stone steps to the front door, I took a deep breath, no going back after this...

The boy that opened the door before I knocked looked to be younger than Zed by a year or two maybe. Blond hair and bright blue eyes, tall, but not six foot, wiry but not skinny.

"Hello." He said.

"Hi. I'm looking for London."

"Well, you're in the wrong country for starters-"

"London the person. Not the place." I corrected and a strange look crossed his face before he beamed.

"William, it's good to meet you in person at last. You've been messing up my sister's mental space for days." He didn't have an accent precisely, more like he was a citizen of the world. And he seemed to have that same ability to know things before he should, like Zed.

"Sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"Paris. Paris Baker."

"So London's your sister?"

"Yes, I am. And Paris? Don't you have somewhere to be?"

My gaze locked on the small girl in blue plaid pants and a loose periwinkle t-shirt that looked to be missing half the thread, making it translucent over the white t-shirt with long lace sleeves. She had mussed blonde hair like Paris, however she had the most beautiful chocolate brown eyes I'd ever seen...

"Ugh! Soulfinders are so... slushy!" Paris groaned and he bounced down the stairs, shaking his head free of thoughts.

"You're taller than I thought." she murmured, tilting her elfish chin up, studying me. Blinking rapidly and shaking her head, she stepped away from the door as if to let me in.

"You knew I was coming?" I frowned, dropping my backpack onto the floor.

_I saw you coming._ She corrected, smiling to herself and looking at her sock feet.

The telepathy was just too much. Reaching out, I ran my fingers across her collarbone to cup her neck, her eyes met mine again and I couldn't help but kiss her.

Kissing London was strange, really strange. Powerful. I would never have thought it from someone so petite, but it felt as if she had control over everything about me. Like an influx of emotion sizzling through me, I was captivated.

Spending the day intertwined on the couch, a _Foster The People _CD spinning in the stereo, I found everything about London fascinating. She was psychic like my mom and Zed. She seemed like a very tough girl, but then it made more sense when she explained about having nine siblings. Even I couldn't compete with having six brothers; she had five.

She told her ex-boyfriends that she was allergic to flowers, when really she just didn't like them in the house because they reminded her of funerals. She got the tattoo of the swallow on her wrist two weeks after her mom died of cancer, four years previously. She told me it was because when they lived in London, the attic of the tall narrow house they had was the nesting place for a group of swallows. She and Sydney used to watch them fly away every fall from the rooftops and be overjoyed when they returned in the spring.

She seemed enchanted by something in my appearance, because she would run her soft fingers along my jaw in the middle of her sentence, or trace my cheekbones and around my eyes, dragging a fingertip down my nose, not once breaking eye contact.

"What?" I finally asked, twisting my fingers in her hair.

"I don't know. Something about your eyes..." Suddenly she was on her feet and rushing from the room.

"London?" I called as I entered the hall after her, she was nowhere to be seen.

"Down here!" her voice was airy as it came from lower down. Noticing a door with peeling paint under the stairs stood ajar, I poked my head around it, rough wooden steps lead downward into a room lit with red and orange light bulbs filling it with a fiery glow.

I headed down, the stairs surprisingly silent beneath my feet. At the bottom, I saw an old grand piano, propped open and filled with scribbled sheet music. Rounding the corner, I saw a quarter devoted to meditation with bright coloured silk hangings and candles of different height, colour and circumference; soft cushions on the floor.

Finally finding London in the cluttered basement, stood behind desk and canvas stands, looking from a sketch book to the canvas, to a loose sheet of paper, back to the canvas.

"What's the matter?" I asked, looking at the pictures for the first time and jumped. They were of me, me in the cafe last night. Excellent pieces of art but strange, being the subject. In colour, monochrome, some with the background in every shade a pencil could create and then me in colour. It was rather disconcerting.

"I _said_ I saw you coming." She muttered, holding up one of her pieces, this time in oil, next to my face. "It drove me insane. I tried everything to get the right look but I couldn't. Sorry if it seems creepy."

"A little." I admitted.

She blushed slightly and turned away. Tucking the sketchbooks into boxes that I was positive she would burn later to hide her embarrassment.

"So your first vision of me was only yesterday?"

She nodded. "Wait. You said Colorado, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"The Rockies?"

I hadn't said that specifically. "Yeah why?"

Clutching my hand she pulled me up the stairs, and then another two flights, and then along an open hallway to a wooden door. She kicked it open to reveal a bedroom. A sanded down bureau of pale furnishing and a rickety set of drawers pushed to one side; a huge window broken up into squares the size of paper napkins; filtering light through warped panes. A large mattress on a white wrought iron frame with blue covers was pushed against the other wall you could see when from the door frame. But London wanted me to see the hidden wall.

It was a mural of a ski slope; a mountain coated in snow, glinting blue in the blinding sun. It looked exactly like the view out of the kitchen window at Mom and Dad's place. Except this would never melt and reveal the bare scraggy rocks of the mountain's naked beauty.

I remember Xav asking once if it would tickle the rock if he skied down it. Vick told him yes and then he, Trace, Zed and I caused a mini avalanche when he was coming down. Whilst Yves and Uriel found this funny, they had been inside and so could not get punished for it.

I brought my attention back to the mural. Realising only then that it was three dimensional. It was collaged out of glossy paper. Where I first saw a shadow, I saw text, the clouds were actually made of cursive writing. She'd made it out of old magazines. It was amazing.

"My first vision I ever got."


	6. They Are Coming

It turned out Paris had risked his social life by talking to his siblings at school. So, when they walked in through the door, Belle called, "Got any younger brothers Will?" and grinned mischievously as she dropped into the seat at the end of the table, crossing her long legs and knotting her fingers together.

"Or sisters for that matter?" Rome was the second into the kitchen, tie loose, sleeves pushed back to his elbows and shirt untucked.

"Do you have any respect for your uniform?" I asked as he kicked off the Timberlands he had for school shoes. Odd socks.

"Nope." he smirked and slouched next to Belle. Vienna and Paris came crashing through the door, Vienna pulling at Paris' hair, whilst clinging to his back.

"Paris, _don't_ bite her." Maddie said as she followed them in, drinking from a carton of juice and reading what looked like _Pride and Prejudice_ on the move. He telekinesis pulled out a chair and she lowered herself into it.

Will raised his eyebrows at her multitasking but didn't say anything.

Paris caught Vienna's hand before she could land the blow she was delivering to his skull and twisted her wrist. Crying out in pain, she dropped from his back and kicked him in the back of the knee.

"Now I understand what Sydney meant." Will murmured.

"What did he tell you?"

"That he wasn't the sibling I needed to worry about."

"Ah."

And then, just as calm had been restored in the kitchen, a bang sounded and a ball of bright orange paint splattered onto the far window, in line with the door. Followed by one of the twins' voices yelling. "Missed!" and then a groan. "Hit that time!" came the other twin's voice.

"I thought we agreed on no paintball in the house?!" I called through,

"Sorry!" they chorused, entering the kitchen, splatted from head to toe in their gym kits, heading through the kitchen to the bathroom to clean off.

"Yeah, boys. Just laser tag." Rio danced in after them, uniform clean but rumpled and took the seat next to Rome. Expresso eyes finding Will. "Ah, _You're_ the reason London's glowing."

"Glowing?" he shifted slightly as he leant against the counter, coffee mug in hand.

"Oh right, I forget you don't actually know us, you seem already so connected with London." she shook her head as if to clear it and continued. "I have the gift to make others happy or drain happiness from them. I read the levels of happiness in a person and alter it to keep it balanced."

"Interesting." he smiled.

"I don't get why _my_ question wasn't answered." Belle folded her arms across her chest.

"Well, yes, I do have younger brothers-"

"Brilliant!"

"-But they've all found their soulfinders-"

"Damn."

"-and Xav, the fifth son in the family, is paired with a soulseeker. Which is why I found London."

"Cheating. I love it." Vienna grinned.

"Short cutting." Paris corrected and Vienna looked ready to throttle him.

"Benedict family tree, go!" Belle clapped her hands and pointed at Will.

"Seven brothers, I'm the fourth. Trace, the eldest, has the ability to track objects through time and space. Like touching the murder weapon, he can find where its been recently... He's paired to Diamond, who is the peace-maker for the world, sorts out feuds for the net and helps with interrogating. They got married last year. Uriel, second brother he can look at a person's memories, he's paired with Cleo, she's our numbers girl, cracks vaults, tracks counterfeit cash... et cetera... Victor, third brother, has a very deep understanding of the brain, and can manipulate your thoughts. He used to get us doing his chores for him growing up. Bastard... He hasn't found his soulfinder yet, Crystal- Xav's partner, seems to be putting off telling him for some reason... I'm brother number four, my gift is like a sixth sense for danger. Xav, number five, is a healer, paired with Crystal, a soul seeker. They're based in Manhattan, where Xav's studying at Med school... Yves, the über genius, he has a habit of making things catch fire and explode-"

"I must swap notes with him." Cairo said as he came back in wearing a pair of jeans from the dryer and a t-shirt of Rome's on, Egypt followed in a pair of trackies and his own shirt. Bare feet.

"-He's paired with Phoenix, convinced her to marry him around two weeks after they met, taking down one of the biggest threats to the net in the process. She's can freeze your thoughts, makes it feel as if time is standing still. Helps a lot when Yves gets a bit out of control... Zed, Youngest brother, psychic, like London, but he has a talent of picking up stray thoughts. He was the first to find his soulfinder, Sky, when she moved to Colorado, she has better telekinesis than anyone I've met, drives Zed insane," he allowed himself a small grin at this one, "But her main gift is to read emotion. My mom has the same gift as Zed and Dad has the same as me.

"So what does the Baker family specialise in?"

"Syd focuses on identification. That's how we knew who you were from my vision. He was looking at your passport in his head."

He frowned, "I'm glad he's working for the net then."

"Mmm." Belle nodded, "Well, I'm Belle. I can beat the polygraph 3200, plus I'm more effective."

"I'm Rome, a healer, probably like Xav, but I might do it a little differently." Rome shrugged.

Paris grinned evilly, "Unless you keep your shields up, I have an all access pass to your thoughts. Well, present thoughts."

"Cairo." He pointed to himself, "London you know how my gift is much better demonstrated-"

"No."

"But-"

"Fine, but Egypt has to be your test dummy."

"This is highly unfair." Egypt said as his hair gained half a foot of volume when Cairo touched his arm. He raised his hands to touch the afro and gradually the hair shrunk back into the thick curls he usually donned.

"They counteract each other." I explained to Will who was watching in awe.

"Wow."

"Vienna? You going to reveal your party trick?" Rome asked, handing her a half full bottle of water from his blazer pocket.

She grinned, unscrewing the cap, the water began to climb an invisible surface, then it started to swirl, changing shape as to resemble a butterfly and then it turned to ice, wobbling in place as it was still connected to the bottle. Suddenly the ice started to steam and evaporated. Condensing down the insides of the bottle and filling it up again.

It took Will a minute or two to find words, "Amazing."

"Oh that's not it." Vienna shook her head. Opening her palms, they ignited with the blue flames you get from drift wood, gradually turning amber and orange. They snuffed out, shifting into swirls of mini tornados. Then as she made a fist, grains of what looked like salt poured from the gap between her little finger and palm.

"Elemental manipulation." I whispered.

"Awesome."

"Mads?"

"Oh sorry, was I doing it again?" she looked up from her novel.

"Only mildly." Belle patted her hand patronisingly.

Madrid scowled at her. "I can produce a repulsive magnetism. If I push it, nobody can even think about me without causing them discomfort, sometimes pain. But usually, people just keep their distance."

"So that's us." Belle smiled. "Are you sure you don't have any younger single brothers?"

Will threw his head back laughing, "I'm sure, you'll have to ask Crystal to take a look for you."

"Okay, Belle and Rio, you're cooking tonight. Change first, though. Your teachers have enough to say about the states of your uniforms as it is... Same for the rest of you."

* * *

"Ooh! Smells great! Don't tell me I've missed Belle's butternut macaroni cheese?" We all turned to see Sydney leaning against the doorframe, an easy grin on his lips. As I went to return the gesture, the mug of tea slipped between my fingers and I blacked out.

_They are coming. Suits. Guns. AK-47s. Tomorrow. They'd take out the kids at school. They didn't care who saw, who else they injured or killed, they were desperate to wipe out the Baker family._

Syd shook me sharply. "London! What did you see?"

I was lying on the floor, Syd, Rome and Will leaning over me. I could see Belle's diesel jeans and leather boots, Rio's colourful trainers and mismatched socks.

"Hold on, she's gone pale, let me..." I felt the cool soothing touch of Rome's gift ease the throbbing above my right eye.

"London?" Will asked softly.

"They are coming." I whispered. "We need to leave. Everyone."

Syd shared a look with someone. Belle's legs moved from my vision and Syd followed.

"Okay, London, you can sit up now." Rome told me and I took Will's outstretched hand, pulling me to my feet. Syd and Belle had removed the wood panelling from the breakfast nook and were pulling out jackets and clothes I'd repacked two weeks ago with clothes of the right size and up to date papers, as I did every three months making sure we were ready to leave at a moment's notice.

"V, you're with me. Come on." Sydney said and clicked the rucksack over his jacket, stretching out a hand to her. Picking up her own bag and taking a firm grip of his hand, they darted out the door, there was a rev of the motorbike engine and they disappeared into the night.

"Belle, Paris. You two head north. Just get off the grid, I'll see if I can find you later." I said chucking them rucksacks filled with spare clothes, money in a few currencies, passports, drivers licenses and a few bags of freeze dried food.

"Rome, Mads and Rio, head south. Don't contact anyone. Not even your dad. Just disappear." I told them, handing them a bag each. "Go." I urged. Rio ran forward and hugged me tightly before turning and following the others out into the darkness.

"Cairo, Egypt, you're with me and Will." I'd figured the hispanic looks Will had would have to do to pass as a relative. "Cai? As soon as we're outside, I need you to super charge the electrical circuit to make a fire. We aren't leaving a trace."

"We need to go now." Will urged, his super sense on red alert.

"Okay." I buckled on my own bag, the kind you wear when you're doing the Duke of Edinburgh Award or going climbing Mt. Everest. "Come on." I urged the twins and Will outside, flicking the all the lights on as I did.

With a small inclination of his head, Cairo's face twisted with concentration. Egypt put his hand on his shoulder, draining the energy from the street lamps and channelling it through his brother into the lightbulbs. I heard every one of them shatter, followed by the _whoosh_ of the cloth lamp shades going up in flames.

Slamming the door we rushed down the steps and down the dark street, Will's hand in my sweaty palm, he squeezed my fingers and asked. _What's the plan Boss?_

_We need a car._

_A fast one. _Cairo and Egypt chimed in.

_How far apposed are you to Grand Theft Auto?_


	7. Bonding

The guard had been working for almost twelve hours. He would be changing his post in ten minutes. His eyes were already drooping over the grainy black and white images on the screens before him. Making Egypt's job all the more simple.

Will, not wanting to be associated with the crime, and I waited outside the multistory in which many wealthy business men stored their cars for the night. We were keeping watch, making sure we wouldn't get caught. Despite that, Will's little gift that notified him when someone untrustworthy is around wasn't much help when the twins were stealing a car.

I'd thought it would be better if they were caught rather than us. Two fourteen-year-old boys could have any number of reasons for breaking into a garage. _A dare... Going to meet their girlfriends... They saw their dog run in here and wanted to get it back..._ Two adults however, did not.

With a soft purr and a flash of lights, Egypt parked the black Mercedes on the kerb and Cairo came jogging up behind it, two screwdrivers and a set of French number plates in his hands.

"They'll report it missing soon enough!" He whispered, chucking a screwdriver to Egypt and the white plate. They each set to work, swapping the plates and posting the others down the slats of the drain. "Hey London? You didn't happen to pack any cling film did you?"

I glared at him.

Will scoffed. "That doesn't actually work, you know?"

Egypt came striding around the car, dropping the old plate down the drain, he replied to Will, "Clearly, you have never seen my brother's work with the product." Cairo stood up and popped open the boot, dumping their bags in. "You drive." they pointed at Will.

"Why me?"

"We don't have time for this." I growled and gave him a shove towards the driver's side. Climbing into the passenger seat, I closed my eyes and with three other door slams, I delved into the future...

_They'd try and go for us in Lyon... Egypt and I would be split up from Cairo and Will in Cannes... They were following us on the motorway out of Holland-_

"Wait until the last minute, then take that exit, rejoin the motorway at the next entrance."

_... Someone would go for Will eventually. When we were at our weakest, they would take the most treasured from me-_

I gasped. "Watch out for uniforms. Don't trust them." I warned and I felt Wills hand brush my knee reassuringly before going back to the gear shift and accelerating.

Belle:

Having a brother like Paris can be a real pain in the neck. But even I have to admit that he has his uses. His gift for reading minds works well in staying hidden from certain eyes. According to him, everyone has a certain flavour, a different take on things, separating them from others. After the near miss escape in Brussels, he knows exactly who's following us. Well, he doesn't know their identity per se, but he knows when their minds are near. So with the sonic sonar flying around, we've managed to stay off the grid, taking the InterRail to Copenhagen.

I don't like it though, I can feel something lurking in the shadows. Whether that was my gift or just paranoia, I wasn't certain. My gift was to detect lies and secrets. I'd never even thought there could be this whole other dimension. Paris had picked up on this and so as night fell and the Little Mermaid depicted a slender sea-lion in the light pollution, we took shelter in one of the shipping containers on the harbour. It was packed three quarters full with cigarettes.

Considering we had been running for the best part of twenty four hours and staying awake for thirty six, we didn't notice when the container rattled a little, we didn't stir as the loud beeps and groans of machinery sounded outside, we only woke up when the gentle rocking was making Paris feel sea sick.

"Belle. _Belle_." Paris shook me awake, hissing in my ear.

"Whazgoinon?" I mumbled sleepily, pressing the heels of my hands into my eyes.

"Belle the container's on an oil tanker across the Atlantic!"

"What?" I glared furiously at my younger brother.

"Shh!" he hissed. "We slept through it. The crew are pretty rough after these things though, so with a bit of telekinesis and your excellent fibbing ability, we've got it covered!"

"Where are we docking?"

He cocked his head to the side... "Philadelphia."

"Right." I nodded. "Shit."

"What? Why? We're thousands of miles from the people who want us."

"Yeah," I scoffed, "But the states are a whole different ball game.

"Belle, we're running, it doesn't matter."

"Of course it matters." I snapped, "The whole point of leaving was to disappear, to blend in. Without green-cards or without visas, we cant do that."

"Yeah, but you forget who our sisters are." he rifled through his bag and pulled out a plastic wallet of paper work. Handing it to me, I read it in the light coming from the slice of daylight above the door. "Christ, they're bloody brilliant."

"Exactly. So what do you plan on telling the crew when we just walk out of the container?"

"How much money do we have left?"

"We're not paying them!"

"Okay!" I chewed on my lip as I considered it. "Sob story? Our mum abused us so we ran away and hid inside one of these? Or our mum locked us in one of these?"

"The first, if our mum locked us in, there would have been more noise."

"Good point."

Will:

Cairo was truly mad. Meaning when he said he knew where a safe house was in Grenoble, I shouldn't have been surprised when it turned out to be a cave. I say cave... I meant crevasse.

Thankfully, after a lot of squeezing through rock walls, "It seemed bigger when I was younger..." we entered a cavern. Our flashlight beams didn't reach the far end, but nothing dangerous was living in there, if anything was living at all. It was roomy with enough cracks in the ceiling that would allow smoke to pass through them without suffocating us.

When I pointed out we didn't have matches or a lighter, Cairo gave me a withering look and sparked his fingers with a snap.

I collected wood.

Once Cairo had got the fire going, he sat back on his sleeping bag and wrapped his gangly arms around his knees. I realised that Cairo was in fact, just a boy. He hadn't completely lost all the childish roundness in his face; he wasn't fully in proportion to his limbs; and his face was still smooth, lacking the stubble that I had. However his eyes seemed older.

He had grown up too quickly for his body. He shouldn't have to worry about all this. He should be getting annoyed because he was hungry; muttering to himself that nobody understands... But his priorities were fully in order. He knew what was important; love, family, self-acceptance...right now though, he was lacking most.

"What I don't get..." I started as I pulled out the freeze-dried blueberries London had packed, "Is how none of you seem surprised." I offered him the packet, he took one. "None of you seem worried about the others. And none of you seem to be inexperienced in running away."

"I trust Egypt." Cairo said. "And I trust London." all the joking, all the ditz was gone in his words. "I know they'll look out for each other, and that's enough to keep me sane." He took another blueberry. "Sydney and London have been running all of their lives. So I know Egypt and Vienna are in safe hands. Belle and Paris can be the ultimate chameleons when they want to be; because they don't hide, they blend... and trust me, its a big difference. Maddie, well you saw, she can pretty much become invisible. She can extend that to Rome and Rio too. They'd probably be the hardest target, if they do get hit however, Rome can fix them up and Rio has her own brand of morphine going...

"We're not inexperienced. Why do you think that we're all _half_ siblings?"

"So you're saying... You're saying that your mom moved around and found new partners... to hide? To keep you safe?"

He nodded slowly.

"From who?"

"Will..." Cairo lolled his head back, he was exhausted, exhausted mentally. "What you have to understand... You have to understand the information you already know." And his dark eyes found mine, giving me a long, hard stare.

_Sydney and London have been running all of their lives..._ This threat was old. It had been after them before they were born. It still was.

"From who's chasing us now?"

He nodded. "Rio's dad was our mother's soulfinder. That's why we stuck around in Brazil for so long." He ate another blueberry. "We were safe. Their gifts together worked a lot like Maddie's, except it was more of an implant. As long as they lived, we would be under their protection until we turned eighteen. When mum died... It broke...

"Syd and London had already moved to Amsterdam. They could be traced so they went to another hemisphere to protect the rest of us. They knew how to look after themselves and went 'camping' a lot." he raised his fingers in little air quotes. "There's a good reason why we attended one of the top schools in Europe. Rio's dad owned the house we lived in-"

"The one you blew up?"

"Yeah, he wont miss it." he brushed it off. "The house had some protection on it; mental barriers and technology firewalls. Courtesy of Maddie. They must have figured out where we were, but thankfully, London got us out."


End file.
